It’s always a good month of reading when I add a five star book to my yearly list! Happy to report that that happened this month… woo!
THE GUEST by Emma Cline
3/5 Stars
This book has gotten a ton of hype this summer and there is absolutely an audience for it! (A bunch of my friends loved it, so don’t let my personal review deter you if it sounds up your alley.) The main character Alex is a bit of a troubled soul– she ends up being broken up with by her boyfriend and finds herself drifting around the Hamptons. She crashes at country clubs and random people’s homes she meets along the way while she tries to figure out what to do next.
HOW TO TALK SO LITTLE KIDS WILL LISTEN by Joanna Faber & Julia King
4/5 Stars
This parenting book had come highly recommended by a few people I know and I’m so glad I read it. It’s packed with tools and scripts for conversations for tricky moments with little kids. We are just at the beginning of this “stage” and I feel so much more equipped. I may not be perfect, but it feels good having some good parenting tools from real experts in my back pockets. (My biggest gripe with the book was just that I found some of the parents featured to be incredibly annoying– it started to drive me nuts by the end, so definitely take their whininess with a grain of salt and know that the takeaways are still worth it in the end.
THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS by Kristy Woodson Harvey
4/5 Stars
If you’re looking for a feel good book to read before summer ends, pick up The Summer of Songbirds. It has a bit of a Hart of Dixie vibe and will have you reminiscing on your childhood. (If you went to sleepaway camp you will especially love this and if you didn’t, you will wish that you had!) It’s ultimately a beautiful story of lasting childhood friendships and how they evolve over time!
TOM LAKE by Ann Patchett
5/5 Stars
My favorite book of the month and up there as one of the best of the year!! I will read anything Ann Patchett writes and I think this is her best novel yet– or at least my favorite of hers. It’s a sweeping novel that brilliantly depicts how parents have lived their own lives before having children. I loved the storytelling through storytelling- a mom sharing her love story with a famous actor (before he was famous!) with her grown daughters as they pick cherries in their family orchard during the pandemic.
RIVALS by Katharine McGee
4/5 Stars
This is the third book in the American Royals series. I wanted to make sure I got caught up on the series before the fourth book Reign came out (out now!). Rivals is just as fun. I absolutely love this series. (American Royals reimagines the United States if it had become a monarchy and not a democracy and features the young adults who are set to rule the country.) I can’t get enough of the drama and this installment ends with an epic cliffhanger. I’m so glad I don’t have to wait to read the next one!
GO AS A RIVER by Shelley Read
2.75/5 Stars
I saw people raving about this book so I instantly added it to the top of my reading queue. Unfortunately, it just didn’t do it for me! (I can’t put my finger on it, but it kind of felt like I had read the same plot before???) In follows the life of a young woman from her first love (a forbidden one) through her adulthood. Along the way, she is forced to make difficult decisions that will stay with her throughout her entire life.
Would love to know what you’ve recently read!
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I have so many of these of my to read list! Thanks for the reviews!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
I wanted to love The Guest and just couldn’t!
If you liked “How to Talk …” don’t miss a book by the same author is called “siblings without rivalry.” It’s our parenting Bible!
Agreed on Go As A River…it kind of felt like Jojo Moyes’ “Giver of Stars” vibes mixed with Kristin Hannah “Four Winds”?? It didn’t bring anything new to the table for me.
Currently reading “A Likely Story” based on your rec and loving it! Excited to get my hands on Tom Lake this fall.
I just finished The Guest and felt the same way – it didn’t have much in the way of plot or character development but it was at least a quick read. Just picked up Tom Lake though and so excited to start it!
I just finished Tom Lake, I enjoyed it. I grew up in that area so it was fun to know what she was referencing in the area. I also picked cherries and lots of stories go on (and cherry fights) in the orchards. So glad you loved the story.